Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Development Programme Pilot Town, and a National Development Reform
Pilot Town by the United Nations Development and Reform Commission.
According to its developers: “Luodian town is in the process of a rapid eco-
nomic development. Many famous global companies have selected Luodian
as an excellent strategic investment area including 50 foreign-invested
enterprises from USA, Germany, France, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan”
reaching U.S. $650 million and a 2009 industrial sales output of approxi-
mately 10.6 billion RMB.
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I traveled from h ames Town to Luo Dian. Traveling between two points
on the outer edge in an urban megacity can take hours. h e local bus that we
took was crowded with rural migrants. On one side of the bus we saw fi elds
and small manufacturing workshops. On the other side we saw the encroach-
ing advance of Shanghai's urban development: malls, real estate develop-
ments, and car sales lots. My traveling companion, despite living not more
than ten miles from the area we were passing through, was shocked by what
she saw, which she likened to the rural poverty in the hinterlands. Her shock
gave way to the familiar disappointment when we actually got to Luo Dian
after two hours.
If there is any feeling that connects my experiences visiting the towns
(except for h ames Town whose appearance matched the website version), it
was a sense of uncertainty. Am I here? Is this it? I found that I began to imag-
ine a stereotypical view of the so-called nation I was about to visit, and any
deviation from that perception set me into a doubtful state of mind. In the
case of Luo Dian, we didn't know we were actually there until I was reas-
sured, not by a Scandinavian-style building, but by the statues. h e fi rst
statue I spotted was a Viking helmet, with long braids attached. Next came
the mini Viking ship with oars sticking out. h e last was a tiny reindeer.
h ese, apparently, are the markings of Northern Europe. h e individual
homes lacked cultural markers (but they did have individual garages, befi t-
ting the town's proximity to Shanghai's Volvo headquarters). h
e public
